Had been wanting to post about this for ages - never got around to doing it...
We had been to Kolkata recently, for some rowing competitions. I used to think, earlier, that traffic in Pune is among the worst in the country, and people drive as they please. The first journey I made in Kolkata. going from the station to our hotel, opened my eyes to how 4 wheelers could also be driven the way we drive 2-wheelers here in Pune! There was no concept of slowing down for an oncoming vehicle, atleast 3 times during the 20 min drive, I had closed my eyes shut fearing a crash! We did everything from getting into a bus in the middle of the road - on a turn, to catching a running taxi (yeah - a running taxi - the way someone might might catch a train that has already started moving!) to running across the roads while crossing them, and realizing, in the process, that drivers in Kolkata do not believe in stopping for pedestrians when they are driving! Every time we sat in a taxi, we'd pray to reach our destination in one peice! However a few days there, and we realized a big contradiction in the entire traffic discipline fundae of people out there. Check out this pic, for instance.
They actually wait at the signal before the white "stop" line! And this was not a one off thing, but something we observed at every crossing, every signal. I have never ever, in 20 years of my life in Pune, observed anyone waiting this far back at a signal, in fact, its not altogether common to see people follow signals in the first place!